Law: Here Come the Judges

Under U.S. law, the President picks federal judges with the advice and
consent of the Senate. Under a practice known quaintly as senatorial
courtesy, the process has traditionally worked the other way around. A
Senator can blackball a nominee to the federal bench in his home state
simply by returning a "blue slip" to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Senate colleagues invariably honor the blue slip, so Presidents long
ago learned to let Senators do the choosing.

Not Jimmy Carter. Federal judges are too important to be political
plums,...